Sailing Side by Side

Happy Holidays 2010-Recap of the Year

2011-01-03T09:12:00.000-05:00

What a difference a year makes; our last holiday picture was taken on the wharf St. Croix, USVI. This year, we are still on the water, it’s just frozen. Saratoga Lake had a perfect sheet of black ice for a few days. It felt great being on the water again, only with many more layers on. 2010 started with a bang in St. Barts, the yachting capital of the rich and famous, including jet-skiing

4 Waterspouts in the Gulf Stream

2010-07-14T10:35:00.001-04:00

Land trip, day 1

2010-07-13T19:09:00.000-04:00

Thanks to the Grego's from Free Spirt who we have not seen in 2.5 years. They offered their home to us so we did not have to sleep in 104 degree heat. The day we were ready to leave, our ride to the airport has arrived but the boat and the Johnson's are not ready to go yet. Marc and I are still covered in sweat. Another cruising family has offered us a ride to the airport and has

Excitement at Sea

2010-06-21T18:30:00.000-04:00

After an exciting father's day, we are having a very pleasant sail. At about 4 a.m. last night a squall overtook us. The wind reached 35 knots and the boat, with one reef in, handled fine. The scary part were 3 very close lightening strikes. On land, there are other good targets for lightening. On the ocean, we have a 60 foot metal object that is the only tall items for miles around. The

Lost Children at Atlantis

2010-05-31T15:30:00.001-04:00

Sabrina's Leap of Faith

2010-05-24T17:49:00.000-04:00

Atlantis

2010-05-24T17:45:00.002-04:00

Our weather guru, Chris Parker came on the SSB at 6:30 a.m. the other day and said, "all my weather models say something different and I have no idea what the wind will be like!". "However, plan on squalls to 50 knots from any direction". Nothing like that to get sailors excited. Especially sailors with kids who like to keep together with other kid boats. So over coffee and banana bread we had a

2010-04-29T22:20:00.000-04:00

While in the Bahamas, a rocket launched from Cape Canaveral lit up the night sky over Stocking Island, Georgetown Bahamas. The pictures show when the rocket broke the sound barrier and the after cloud. The kids said, Mom, Dad, come see this. Enjoying our wine and company we were slow to come out and look but glad we did.

2010-04-29T20:49:00.001-04:00

But I don't want to tack

2010-04-28T11:03:00.000-04:00

Family Island Regatta Race week was something that we returned to Georgetown Bahamas to watch and hopefully participate in. Bahamanian sloops are the pride of each "family" island. For 4 days, they race several races a day with exciting anchor starts, aggressive tacks at the turns and usually several near collisions per race. The sloops are hand crafted mostly wood boats with over sized masts

The crazy sport of free diving

2010-04-19T11:02:00.001-04:00

While in Long Island we watched, as much as we could, the first day of the world championship free diving contests. Men and women from around the world, using fins or no fins descent into the worlds deepest blue hole in Long Island Bahamas without compressed air. They hold their breath for longer than 4 minutes, risk lung damage or worse so see who can go the deepest. We met a US free diver

2010-03-25T15:10:00.001-04:00

Sabrina went hunting with Marc determined to land her first lobster. She has developed amazing ability to dive to 20-25 feet and hold her breath. As she tells it, she looked under a ledge and waited for a school of snapper to clear out. She could not believe it when she saw a huge lobster sitting there under the ledge Excited, she surfaced, took a big breath and went down, steadied herself

Black and White

2010-02-23T14:07:00.000-05:00

Our friends the Cases came down from Saratoga. Even with sunscreen, it is hard to avoid the sun out here. Can you tell Angie's feet from Kelly's? We had a great visit and were sad to see them go back to the great white north. Now it is the craziness of Georgetown.. 300 boats and the fun of cruisers week. We love it.

2010-01-24T09:08:00.002-05:00

Parker and Sabrina do their junior ranger program at the Fort San Cristobal in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico. Old San Juan is a jewel of a city in the Carribean.

The Johnson's New Years Letter

2010-01-03T12:23:00.003-05:00

Wow, how time flies. This is our 4th year sailing on Side-by-Side. The friends we made, the laughs we had and the memories we formed will be cherished for life. As you will see, 2009 was the year of Plan A turning to Plan B then Plan C Option 2a. Parker, our conscientious, studious 7th grader, thrives on wakeboarding, cliff jumping, hanging with other kid boats, and non-tropical

Sabrina turns 11

2009-12-08T08:21:00.001-05:00

Sabrina's 11th birthday was spent hanging in Road Town, Tortola, BVIs. She planned her day to the minute. Monster Pancakes for breakfast (a type of baked egg/pancake), painting nails on the boat then out for lunch. The kids both enjoyed a huge cheeseburger and Ting, a Jamaican grapefruit soda. After lunch we did some expensive grocery shopping. We found our hair braid lady in the craft stalls

St. John

2009-12-01T13:45:00.000-05:00

After exploring the north side of St. John 3 years ago, we headed to the south side. Thanks to Laurance Rockefeller, about half the island of St. John is National Park. The waters are protected by a sea park. Most of the anchorages have mooring balls are are $15/night. In one such anchorage, a park boat came along presumablely to collect while Sabrina tried to catch the sea life. No, they

Parker's Paradise

2009-11-25T13:45:00.000-05:00

After 9 days at sea, Parker dreamed of a cheeseburger. When the St. Thomas yacht club had a TRIPLE cheeseburger on the menu for the evening, he begged us to go with the Watts out to dinner. Of course, we relented and enjoyed our last evening with the Watts. Seeing Angie, Chris, Meghan and Christina at Cowpet Bay after 9 days a sea was a real treat. Though they don't see each other often or

In the middle of nowwhere

2009-11-19T10:50:00.000-05:00

Sailing out here in the middle of the Atlantic, I realized that, besides our immediate family, no one knows where we are or where we are going. As a write this, due to modern GPS technology, we know exactly were we are. However, as we can't sail directly where we want to go, we don't know where we will end up or when. With many financial balls in the air to be juggled prior to being

5 kids boats with 11 kids for Halloween at Elizabeth City NC

2009-11-03T06:51:00.001-05:00

Auto pump shut off

2009-09-29T18:34:00.000-04:00

On the boat, we are used to traveling for a month or more on 150 gallons of fuel. After all, we are a sail boat with two auxiliary engines. Our patience for slow sailing has increased with a 3 knot cut-off. If we are going less than 3 nautical miles an hour (maybe 4 miles an hour) we turn on an engine and motor sail. Now we are driving 40 feet of house down the road with a V10 Ford Triton

Heading west with no GPS

2009-08-02T18:34:00.002-04:00

Goodbye Hastings. On Saturday, August 8th, after cleaning, fixing, and loading the “new” RV with food, we left Hastings Michigan heading west without a definite plan. A new tradition was established.. honk at the entrance to every new state. Bye Michigan, hello Indiana…. Goodbye Indiana, hello Illinois. Scott, my brother, turned 40 that day and we were meeting him off the highway in

Land Lubbers

2009-08-01T20:43:00.001-04:00

August 1st , 2009 was a milestone day. In the morning, we negotiated our first RV purchase, a 37',1999 National "Tropi-cal" model with 35,000 miles.Why did we BUY an RV you ask. Side-by-Side was "on the hard" at the Severn River Marina in Virginia awaiting a new transmission. Most boat yards forbid living on the hard. We have done it once and it is no fun and nearly impossible for the 3-4 weeks

Reunited

2009-07-17T10:34:00.002-04:00

Close friends. Sending out Christmas cards or wedding invitations our list of friends can swell to large levels. But when it comes down to the number of people you can call on for anything, anytime the number shrinks Those people who open their homes to you and tell you to stay as long as you need to, even beyond the standard "4 day" limit. Sailing, we meet other cruising who become "do

One Big Bad U Turn

2009-07-08T16:33:00.005-04:00

After 4 days and 450 miles into our trip south, between Cuba and the Cayman islands, we mysteriously stopped moving through the water. For 95% of the time, we had to motor with no wind or wind coming from the direction we wanted to go. We finally decided to drop the sails and punch our way to the Caymans using just one motor. The 140 miles left were going to be rough, bashing into building

Crash at Family Island Regatta

2009-05-20T17:30:00.000-04:00

Half Moon Cay

2009-05-12T12:37:00.002-04:00

A few days ago, Jennie (Miakoda) and Alyson (Aly Cat) made friends with the Jamaican horse tenders on Little San Salvador. For marketing purposes, Holland American Cruise Lines has renamed it Half Moon Cay and set up a cruise ship fantasy land on the island. Living onshore are 25 or so ex-polo ponies for the cruise ship passengers to ride on the beach and in the water. Our cruising guide says, "

Family Island Regatta

2009-05-06T09:03:00.000-04:00

Every year in April, traditional Bahamain sloops from all the island groups in the Bahamas compete for three days of racing, drinking and dancing in Georgetown Bahamas for the National Family Island Regatta. The sloops are unique as the ballast comes from 5 or so guys "hikin" out on a board on the windward side. On a tack, everyone has to duck and get the board out on the other side. Race

2009-05-01T23:33:00.001-04:00

Prior to Little San Salvador, we were in Fernandez Bay, Cat Island. Cat Island is a very friendly island known for its traditional African religious practices, including abandoning houses once the grandparents die to allow the spirits to live in peace. Cat Island is also known as the home of Rake and Scrape music, Bahamain music using a heated goat skin drum, saws with a screw driver and an

Overcoming Fear at the Blue Hole

2009-04-13T18:12:00.000-04:00

On Easter Tuesday, we decided to rent a van with our friends on Miakoda to tour Long Island, Bahamas. Finding a car was the first challenge. Jennie would speak to someone who said, yes we have a car only to find out that the car had been already rented to other crusing friends. Finally, we arranged a van and a pick up. The friendly Bahamaian who met us at the dock drove us to his house and

Treasures Found

2009-04-05T13:30:00.000-04:00

All of us wanted to return to Johnson Cay, a small inland with a perfect beach facing north and an anchorage only for two boats. Two years ago, we had a magical experience with our friends on Dream Catcher. So this time, we were there by ourselves with perfect weather, clear skies and gorgeous water. With the artistic Daniels family on Dream Catcher, we painted a sign that said, "Welcome to

Scavenging and Seclusion

2009-04-04T12:00:00.005-04:00

Why go you ask, of course, for the scavenging, hunting and seclusion. All of us were excited to find lobster, whose season ended in 10 days. In Sabrina;A Child's History of the World", she learned about the life of the Stone Age people. "These early people must have spent most of their time hunting for food or trying to get away from animals hunting them for food". That was us, the

Sprawl and Socialization

2009-04-04T10:38:00.001-04:00

Only in the Bahamas can you go from the polar opposite cruising experiences in a day's sail. At one end of the cruising spectrum is Georgetown, Bahamas during Cruising Week. At the other end are the remote and desolate Ragged Islands/Juementos, Bahamas. In Georgetown (G/T), we listened to the VHF net, wrote down the daily and weekly activities and had to use (gasp) a calendar with time

Back to Georgetown

2009-03-25T13:48:00.003-04:00

After a crazy and fun two weeks in Georgetown, Bahamas during regatta week, we are peacefully anchored in Nurse Cay, Jumentos. Our position is posted on the ship trak link on our blog. The Jumentos, which means donkey in Spanish, is a string of virtually uninhabited islands closer to Cuba than the US. Prior to G/T, we were blessed by our dear friends, Chris and Kelly, Jack and Katie Case of

Parker's Lobster

2009-03-25T13:21:00.000-04:00

Crash, Bang, Boom!

2008-12-14T21:32:00.009-05:00

Twas the 9th night of December at around 11:00 at night. The wind was blowing steady; there was not a boat in sight. And so starts the story of our worst experience to date at sea. “This has to be our best sail ever,” stated Marc earlier in the evening. We were cruising over the bottom at 9.5 knots, with a 1.5 knot favorable current. With the light of full moon and partly cloudy skies, the

Leaving Panama

2008-05-02T19:38:00.000-04:00

After 3 months, we left Panama feeling as through we had seen the whole country. Our experiences with indigenous people left us a little less depressed while going over American History with Parker and Sabrina. At least some Indians survived the Europeans. In Panama, there are large sections of the country, the islands of the San Blas and the Mountains of the North East that are governed by

Key West of Yesteryear

2008-04-15T19:44:00.002-04:00

If ever there were another place like the Key West of yesteryear, it would have to be Bocas Del Toro (the mouth of the bull). One can’t help but smile in the laid back bohemian pedestrian based outpost of the Caribbean. Bocas got its start with the upstanding corporate citizens and land stewards, the United Fruit Company. Clearing huge tracks of rain forest, filling in the mangroves to build the

Escubo Veracus the Island that has it all

2008-04-12T09:48:00.000-04:00

After goodbyes we left with another boat for a small indigenous island called Escubo Veracus. After the chief collected a $10 “voluntary” contribution, we explored the island and surrounding reefs. The kids enjoyed running the dingy up the breaking surf while I prayed the boat would not flip. The atoll formations were incredible with sheer faced races rising up out of the ocean. Next onto

Wakeboarding with the cros

2008-04-09T09:47:00.000-04:00

What can we say about the Rio Charges, a beautiful natural reserve adjacent to the Canal fronted by Fort San Lorenzo. The Rio is historically significant as the start of Henry Morgan’s attack on Panama and destroying of Panama City. The fort fell to Henry with all souls lost, then ships proceeded up the Rio Charges to Panama City. With all the glorification of pirates in the Pirates of the

"Sprawling Slum" of Colon

2008-04-01T09:46:00.000-04:00

Next we were onto Colon, the armpit of the Caribbean. The Lonely Planet calls it, “a sprawling slum of decaying colonial grandeur and desperate human existence”. (Why can’t I write like that?) The highlight, our friends on Crystal and Mima were there and we missed them terribly. We had one night with Crystal before they moved to a marina across the canal. Nice marina, but not convenient to the

Line Handlers for a Day-Only in our Mind

2008-03-30T09:43:00.000-04:00

After the San Blas, we ventured to Isla Linton and Portobello along the coast of Panama, before Colon. Our South African friends on Grace, a 56ft foot catamaran, had said we could line handle in the Canal with them and they went on to make arrangements for their transit. Marc and I were really excited.. .a chance to see the canal on someone else’s boat. It is an overnight adventure so Stewart on

Easter in Portbello-Home of Christo Negro

2008-03-23T09:45:00.001-04:00

Portobello was the most important port in the Atlantic in its day. Sadly, little has been done to preserve or promote the history of the area. Squatters have set up housing in the borders of the forts and many of the buildings are falling into disrepair. Portobello is also known as the home of the Christo Negro (or Black Christ). The story goes that typhoid was killing off 1000’s and locals were

Cartagena, Columbia: The Most Beautiful Historical City in the New World

2008-02-09T14:15:00.000-05:00

Towering up out of the gently rising arid landscape stood high rise after high rise of beach apartments, condos and hotels of the new section of Cartagena. From our approach, we had to navigate through a buoyed cut so as not to run aground on the nearly mile long underwater wall built by the Spanish Conquistadors. This hidden wall prevented enemy warships from

Assume Nothing, Trust No One and Always Get It in Writing

2008-02-02T14:15:00.000-05:00

Our mast’s boom attachment point weld had been developing a crack that had progressed and so we sought a welder in Cartagena. Our agent, David, (everyone needs an agent to check in), made arrangements for a welder. He came, looked it over, gave us a price of $40 in Spanish. Angie repeated it back to him and wrote it down. The day of, David informs us that our

The Columbian Welcoming Committee

2008-01-30T14:15:00.002-05:00

After a few days we sailed with Crystal onto Rodedero Beach just west of Santa Marta, Columbia. Following the Pizazz guide, they recommended we sail between a rocky island just off the point and the point…to save a ½ mile! Approaching under full sail doing almost 10 knots we noted the breaking waves of the rocks next to the island. “Two breaking rocks? But I see

The notorious Colombian Coast

2008-01-29T16:11:00.001-05:00

Everyone warned us that we were going to get our butts kicked by the Christmas winds. The stretch of ocean off the Colombian coast has its own weather system with a combination of trade winds, a semi-permanent Colombian low, a 2 mile high snow capped mountain and warm ocean water all factoring into the weather. Winds over 50 knots and waves over 25’ are a regular occurrence. Fortunately for all

Carnival

2008-01-24T16:11:00.001-05:00

Despite Crystal leaving for Colombia, we decided to stay for the famous lighted parade of Carnival. Days before the parade locals and businesses set up viewing stands on trailers one after another along the entire route. Da’ prade be statin’ around 8:00…. plus two hours and then some as the crowds along the parade route grew in size and drunkenness. The first sign

Around Aruba

2008-01-20T16:11:00.001-05:00

Team Johnson landed via Jet Blue back in Aruba with 49.5 pounds x2 bags each plus a carry on each. Now I know we’ll never see the water line again! Looking like the Beverly Hill Billies, we headed to the marina. Side By Side was just as we left her and to all our delight, our hermit crab habitat proved a success. Rather than the tears of setting them free or of

Mickey Mouse New Year

2008-01-01T16:11:00.000-05:00

In succession we celebrated Christmas with the grandparents. For a week of the time we rented a condo in the crashing Orlando real estate market. What was $150 a night last year was now $75 a night this year. Epcot was spectacular Disney reality. How a working class family can budget for a week stay at Disney is nearly impossible. In hindsight, we should have gone

Back to the U.S.A.

2007-12-21T16:11:00.000-05:00

Our friends the Joch’s graciously let us stay at their mansion in Key Biscayne. Key Biscayne is just an incredible place to bike as a family. The quiet neighborhoods of mansions, bike lanes and cross walks on the main road and public parks on both ends, one of which used to be a zoo. Collectively we had 3 spills and Sabrina almost “met her maker” crossing a street when she was told to stop.

Leaving Crystal and Stormy Nights

2007-12-18T16:11:00.001-05:00

A few days later, Crystal finally sails in from the islands of Venezuela. To welcome them, I made arrangements for dinner on the beach at the Bonaire Beach Club Resort. After sundowners we zoom off down the coast to dinner. Since we made reservations and were a large party they had set up a large linen covered table on the beach with candlelight and everything. For

Beautiful Bonaire and the Junk Man

2007-12-16T16:11:00.000-05:00

The contrasts between Venezuela and Bonaire were evident in our stroll to Immigration. We could wear our watch and wallet vs. cash in our underwear. The classic architecture vs. iron bar art and barbed wire in VZ. Money came from ATM’s vs the black market. Bonaire had a master plan with bikes rolling by vs. deteriorating buildings with ghetto buses rambling

Goodbye Venzuela

2007-12-10T16:11:00.000-05:00

Isla de Aves (Bird Islands) is a very apropos name for the area. Out in the middle of the ocean exists two island specks loaded with seas birds because the fishing is spectacular. At sunset we passed the time away paddling along the mangroves observing the bountiful species and sounds. We were fascinated as to how close hundreds of birds would allow us to approach

Happy Birthday Sabrina

2007-12-03T16:11:00.000-05:00

Most of the Rocques are virtually uninhabited because the killer black mosquitoes are such a menacing force. You can feel their blood seeking bayonets sinking in deep when they attack!! Our strategy with the enemy was to avoid mangroves, low wind areas, and being close to shore thus minimizing: land to sea attacks, air strike damages (bites) and making refueling difficult. In reserves were the

Gran Roque, the jewel of Venezuela

2007-11-26T16:11:00.000-05:00

While the rest of the Los Roques is of coral origin, El Grand Roque (The Grand Rock) juts 280’out of the ocean from tectonic plates buckling. El Grand Roque is one of the coolest places on earth with its sand streets and well-maintained. brightly painted stucco structures. Unlike the rest of VZ we had seen, the iron bars and barb wire were less excessive, the streets were litter free, and the

Los Roques

2007-11-26T12:32:00.000-05:00

Los Roques, the jewel archipelago of VZ, was another overnight sail. Upon entering we hit a school of tuna. Angie did circles after 2 hits were had.. bang, bang. That was a first for us, prolonging a sail to try to catch fish. Standing taller than all the islands, except Gran Rocque, is a massive freighter washed up on the barrier reef. Though we tried, the current and crashing waves kept us

The Little Known Out Islands

2007-11-24T12:32:00.000-05:00

Sailing again! A 24+ hour passage and we arrived in the nearly untouched island of Tortuga. Wind swept beaches stretched for miles with an impenetrable scrub interior. At Punta Delgado o del Este lied a dirt air strip and a surfer posada. We stayed a few days enjoying the gentle surf and rustic beauty. A few miles further we came upon Cayo Herraduro, a classic coral reef island with waves

Thanksgiving

2007-11-22T12:32:00.001-05:00

Thanksgiving, though an American holiday, gathered no interest by fellow American cruisers in Porlamar when we inquired on the net. The only other kid boat in the anchorage was Dafney, a South African family, so we invited them to dinner. Actually they were ecstatic as they had heard of our Thanksgiving traditions in America. Our family prepared all the traditional

Our need for speed

2007-11-19T12:32:00.000-05:00

With bigger kids and the desire to try wake boarding, we needed a bigger engine to get our dingy on plane. Imagine always driving your car with a governor on it, that is what driving a non-planing dingy is like. For 3x less than the rate in the U.S., (thanks to Chavez), we paid in advance for a new outboard that we were hoping to someday see. What was to be 4

Rats

2007-11-16T12:32:00.000-05:00

Meanwhile back at the camp a fabulous meal was prepped for our large appetites. The aroma was more than the giant rats (capybara) could endure. Around the village. a mother capybara and her ½ size offspring had taken up residence taking to begging like a dog for table scraps rather than forage in the jungle like the rest of the species. So here we are eating in the dimly lit hut when all of

Day 3

2007-11-15T12:32:00.000-05:00

Day 3: After a delicious breakfast we were off on our five mile hike up the mountain to see the Saito Kuyuwi, waterfalls. Along the way we heard howler monkeys, saw poison dart frogs, and an indigenous hut under construction by hand. This area has over 40 more villages occupied by the indigenous Yeyuana O Uaquiritare. While standing on the cliffs where the river branches off into 5 falls we are

Rio Caura-Day 2

2007-11-14T13:30:00.001-05:00

Day 2: Admittedly, I thought we Westerners, with our capitalism, missionaries and diseases had annihilated these people and their culture. For the most part, the indigenous Indians of the VZ rain forest have maintained their traditional lifestyle. Their enormous environment is only accessible by foot or by boat. The dominant tribe of the region is the Yeyuana o Vaquiritare while the lesser tribe

Hammocks.kewl!

2007-11-13T13:30:00.000-05:00

Though I’ve lounged in a hammock sippin’ a coldly, I’ve never been relegated to spend the night in one. As I know some of you are wondering…hammocks are not conducive to romance. We each were assigned a hammock and a mosquito net (remarkably not as necessary as we thought). We woke up, refreshed and ache and pains free. The hammocks became the reading spot and...I

Somewhere Back in Time on the Rio Caura

2007-11-12T13:30:00.000-05:00

The 5 day Rio Caura tour we booked with Adrenaline Tours, thanks to other cruisers and the Lonely Plant, costs us all of $500. For that we had our own tour guide, cook and boat driver. The owner picks us up promptly at the Ciudad Bolivar terminal and takes us to the Don Carlos posada, the nicest posada in Ciudad Bolivar. They have the 3 bed loft available, the

Pimp my Ride

2007-11-10T13:30:00.001-05:00

Angie looked into an inland tour while visiting this beautiful country. The popular tour was a trip to Angel Falls, the world’s tallest waterfalls. Getting there required flying on a small plane, one of which had crashed the week before. Having heard multiple stories of cruisers having to wake up their pilots while in the air, we were convinced to forgo that trip for now. Masterpeaces’ Alex

I Am Leo, Your Taxi Driver

2007-11-02T15:49:00.000-04:00

The area outside of the marina quickly deteriorated into abject poverty with warnings of violent crime close by. Cruisers did not walk far and used one of the many taxi drivers who “resided” at the marina. Leo the taxi driver is an urban legend in Puerto La Cruz He learned his English from watching American cartoons and is constantly practicing! “How are you my friend?”, he would say to everyone.

Cruising Kids, Tooth Fairies, and Halloween in Puerto La Cruz (Port of the Cross)

2007-10-31T15:49:00.000-04:00

We motored just 5 miles, though worlds apart from the desolation of the out islands, to arrive at Bahia Redondo Marina in Puerto La Cruz. What a surprise and relief, the place had cruising kids! Parker and Sabrina were free to go and explore, only to return moments later with a whole bunch of kids to play with on our boat. Children from England x 2, Brazil x 2,

Mochima Park-Venezuela

2007-10-15T15:49:00.001-04:00

We departed with Alex and Isabelle, a young French Canadian couple on Masterpeace, to cruise through Mochima park. Popular sentiment was to buddy boat while anchoring in the remote sections of Mochima park for deterrence against thieves that come in the night. Often we are asked about safety in Venezuela. No doubt, crime is a huge issue, with half of our close friends have an actual or

Iiissss . There Anybody Out There?" in Guacharo Caves

2007-10-10T11:32:00.000-04:00

For the group trip to the guacharo caves, I was anticipating a junked 1970’s “Dodge church van” that was exhumed from the dead for service in Venezuela. Instead a brand new Mercedes Benz Sprinter van with A/ C and a professional sober driver showed up. Now we are talking. Within just 10 miles, the vegetation turned from dense cactus

How fresh do you want your meat?

2007-10-05T15:49:00.000-04:00

On the SW corner of the Golfo de Cariaco is the city of Cumana, the place to get your “free” fuel thanks to Chavez. We met up with our good friends with kids on “Sea You Manana”. The kids loved the ice cream and video arcade in the waterfront plaza. The next morning, it was off to the local marker. Unlike the touristy straw markets of the islands or the upscale

Fisherman On!

2007-10-04T15:49:00.000-04:00

We sailed off toward the mainland and the Golfo de Cariaco with Grace in light winds that moved the boats just fast enough to make Laguna Grande by dark. As we usually do, we trolled lines 100 yards behind the boat to see if dinner was out there. What was out there, were several fisherman buzzing at a high rate of speed between the mainland and Isla Margarita. Angie frantically yelling,

Don't get anchored in prosaic detail

2007-09-30T23:13:00.000-04:00

We weighed anchor and motored east further into the 30 mile long Golfo bound for Medregal Village. The peninsula’s mountains are shaped like a continuous line of soft serve ice cream that changed from arid to green to tropical the further east we went. There’s this place, Medregal Villlage, run by a former Belgian Congo expat named Jean Marc that has become a

Lowering our water line in Margarita

2007-09-23T15:49:00.000-04:00

Monday morning, we boarded the “VIP” shopping bus to Sigo’s courtesy of Juan Marina and received our very important Sigo number pass. Later we learned the money we spend gives Juan and his family “points” at Sigo, so they essentially eat for free. See, you like that angle? And we thought the numbers were for free coffee. Margarita, a duty free shopping zone, had the

Los Testigos

2007-09-19T10:53:00.000-04:00

The Los Testigos is a delightful group of island with about 160 inhabitants who live by fishing. Other than a church, a school, and a beach bar (tin roof stick structure with Regional beer pennants and loud music) there is nothing else. To get supplies, they jump in their pirogues and zoom over to the mainland some 40 miles away. There is a Costaguardia post that allowed us to stay for 3 days

Chacachacare the Leper Colony

2007-09-17T10:17:00.001-04:00

Side-by-Side headed west to explore the Trini island of Chacachacare (Chaka-cha-carie) some 13 miles away. In 1924 a leper colony was established here by the Dominican nuns, and continued until 1984. The hospital, houses, men and women dormitories, paved road, and church were simply left behind. Today most of the structures are still standing though Mother Nature is slowly absorbing them back

Ikin wit Jessie Janes and Snake

2007-09-12T09:22:00.003-04:00

With two other kid boats, we organized a family ike (a/k/a hike) into the rain forest. Along the road we met “Snake” and company, our river guides. Their vehicle resembled a former demolition winner being held together by rope and chicken wire. Snake taught us that eating and drinking bacteria tainted food and river water would make our bodies stronger and healthier! He had a pet snake (hence the

Treasures of the Bilge and "the rock"

2007-09-09T09:16:00.001-04:00

We had missed the morning “net” on our first Sunday back because we, like everyone else, are still sleeping. However, Kurt on Crystal was listening while on the john for “free treasures of the bilge”. This is a time when one man’s junk becomes another man’s treasure. Never in history has anyone come on the net giving a way a whole boat and all its contents to the first person who gets there!

Return to Trinidad

2007-09-01T09:15:00.001-04:00

Oh, while you were away, a worker was stabbed at the ATM…. other than that, things have been pretty quiet. Side-by-Side was in perfect shape as we again sweated our pa-tuties off prepping her to go back in. All of our cash was spent paying the marina bill before we left. Unfortunately, we did not think to bring greenbacks with us. Off to the same ATM where the worker was stabbed, I reported

Get Me Outta Here

2007-06-10T09:10:00.000-04:00

Sweating like a pig, except I don’t think pigs sweat, we stripped off and secured everything above deck for hurricane season and opportunity seekers. The last night we treated ourselves to the motel across the street and met a lovely pulmonologist and her daughter. She, with her personal bodyguard spoke of the murder a day, 240 kidnappings in a single year for extortion, and a huge drug

Turtles Nesting by Moonlight

2007-06-01T07:31:00.000-04:00

Trinidad is like no other island in the Caribbean with 1.2 million people of African and East Indian decent. Tourism is minimal with an economy based on natural gas and oil reserves. In fact the US is dependent on Trinidad for 70% of its natural gas. Chagaramas, where all the haul out marinas are, is a filthy port that is the “safe place”, below the 10.5 latitude for hurricane insurance. The sail

Happy Knickers

2007-05-26T07:09:00.000-04:00

A short hop from Bequia is the National Park of the Tobago Cays, a paradisaical cluster of a half dozen small islands floating in shallow Bahama Blue water and protected from the Atlantic by a large shelf reef that rises up to the surface. Since the DR, we had not really connected with any other families. Fortunately, our luck was about to change. As we were leaving Bequia we met “Jimmy” from NYC

Bequia, Paradise Lost

2007-05-21T16:26:00.000-04:00

For years, we had heard stories, read articles, and even listened to songs extolling the beauty of Bequia and its people. “Do you want to buy some fruits? I am your fruit man….(and I’m also stoned out of my mind and haven’t bothered to bathe in a week) No fruit? You want some smoke? How about for the nose? I can help you out.” If someone wasn’t wanting to sell drugs to our family out for a

Fort de France, Where All the Action Is.

2007-05-20T15:45:00.000-04:00

This is now the capital and cruise ship port of duty free shopping. The streets are jammed with cars, busses, vendors, shoppers and life. This is a sight to behold, bag home schooling, we are going to get off the boat early to see the sites for a change. What's doing on, everything, including McDonalds is closed on Ascension Day???!!! In America, we’d be having a sale, but here you could have

Mt. Pelee-Vaporized

2007-05-20T15:26:00.000-04:00

Our first sight of this beautiful island was the infamous volcanic mountain of Mt. Pelee jutting up some 4,582’ and dripping of lush green vegetation. We anchored on the northwest side in front of the city of St. Pierre. For our sundowners (the kids had milk), we read the story of St. Pierre and that fateful day of May 8th, 1902. For weeks leading up to that day, there had been rumblings,

Dog Attack and Other Fun in Dominica

2007-05-16T15:01:00.000-04:00

Antigua is the land of 365 beaches and Dominica is the land of 365 streams! Mentally, I have a hard time comprehending where all this water comes from on this small lush island. The windward side where all the rain clouds collect receives far more rain than the leeward or west side. The 1.5 lane wide paved roads lack any guardrails and are virtually untraveled. They are without question the

Trois Ilets (Three Toilets) and Anse Mitan (Ants in my Mitten)

2007-05-15T16:15:00.000-04:00

Like Guadalupe, everyone speaks French and we are really struggling. We dinghyed around Pointe du Bout to see the charming town of Trois Illets (three toilets) which was not under construction. The old simple church was where Marie Anoinette was baptized and is the towns claim to fame. On the trip back, we watched the kite boarders “flying by” at incredible speeds. For a thrill and our

Dominica, the Nature Island

2007-05-15T14:51:00.000-04:00

I went to customs for a change, and tied up to the crumbling commercial port dock finding customs in a tin roofed shed with scrap building materials piled about. I was greeted with a smile and professionalism while cleared in AND out in 10 minutes! Nice.Our days here were fantastic. The people were wonderful. Only 70,000 live people here. They are extremely poor; the poorest we have seen in the

Boat Boys, don't leave home without them

2007-05-15T12:08:00.000-04:00

I have to admit we had some preconceived notions of Dominica based on bulletins and guidebooks purporting the crime and safety concerns here. They also warned of the “aggressive” boat boys who hung on your boat like wallpaper and were like a stray dog that just wouldn’t leave. Sure enough 5 miles from shore we meet Anthony in his wooden skiff powered by a 1950’s Johnson outboard belching blue

Two sides of History

2007-05-09T11:59:00.000-04:00

Les Saintes are a cluster of small arid mountainous islands with a couple of picturesque settlements. We passed a series of massive 2 bladed wind generators; the only ones we have seen in these trade wind islands! Terre De Haut’s population is all descendents of Breton fisherman and Norman sailors. Anse du Borg looks like a Med style fishing village with hundreds of painted wooden fishing boats,

Where is Customs, Where is Customs?

2007-05-08T11:49:00.000-04:00

We need to get south fast so off to Guadalupe. The dense forested backdrop of the 4800’ volcanic mountain of La Soufriere or Old Lady as the locals call her is amazing.In the morning, Angie set off to try to find the customs people to clear in; a very informal thing here in the French Islands. 2 hours and 3 miles later she returned, customs was only there on Wednesday's from 1-4. Ah, oh well lets

2007-05-01T11:59:00.000-04:00

Les Saintes are a cluster of small arid mountainous islands with a couple of picturesque settlements. In the E/W pass there are a series of massive 2 bladed wind generators; the only ones we have seen in these Trade wind islands! Terre De Haut’s population is all descendents of Breton fisherman and Norman sailors. Anse du Borg looks like a Med style fishing village with hundreds of painted wooden

Look whose coming to dinner

2007-05-01T11:17:00.000-04:00

That evening we anchored in Carlyle Bay in front of what looked like an unassuming low rise hotel resort. Toward the end of the day we strolled the beach and took notice of the elegant banquet tent on the beach with more stoneware, glassware and flatware per place setting than I think we have on our entire boat. We started chatting with some peole on the beach, kinda of the thing you do when you

Where is the dingy?

2007-04-29T11:42:00.000-04:00

Antigua, a British island, claims to have 365 beaches along its twisting turning cloverleaf shaped island. Our overall impression of Antigua is that it has one of the most beautiful coastlines. However, it is in need of reforesting and a course in friendliness. The laundry women rolled their eyes that I would want to do business at their facility. Then when they said $36 US for 2 loads I decided

Butterflys and Boats

2007-04-19T10:40:00.000-04:00

Through the years, St. Martin has been a hurricane magnet, losing a number of its beaches and developments. The beaches are beautiful, as is the scenery sunbathing on it, especially on the French side. Marc likes to say, I’m not one to complain”. The kids’ reactions to the lack of modesty (a.k.a. clothes) of the surrounding boaters were funny. Sabrina did not mind showering off the transom here..

Adventures Had by Helping Others

2007-04-18T12:42:00.000-04:00

Chris Parker, the SSB weather reporting guru, was describing a near perfect storm that hammered several boats returning back to Cape Hatteras from the Bahamas. Sadly, one young group of sailors perished on a boat and 3 other boats were abandoned. For our area, 10’ swells that would become breaking waves in our anchorage were predicted,

You Mus’ Go Fastaahhh

2007-04-17T13:30:00.000-04:00

The night was dead calm as we motored out of the anchorage and through Sir Francis Drake Channel of the British Virgin Islands. Several kid boats had reported that of all places, the BVI”S was being a real pain in the stern clearing in cruisers, especially with children. Two families were asked to provide tons of educational documentation to verify their children’s education. On the way, we

Click, the guily party's face is hidden

2007-04-17T12:39:00.000-04:00

Click! The guilty party's face is hidden

St. John's, U.S.V.I

2007-04-15T12:42:00.000-04:00

The crossing to St Johns took all of 20 minutes from anchor up to anchor down. The hillside developments were ostentatious displays of wealth. With home prices from $1 million-$10 million, the coexistence of less affluent locals and second homers is sometimes tense. The National Seashore Visitors’ Center provided interactive and interpretive displays about Rockefeller’s donation and creation of

Wal-Mart, Highways, and Chili’s

2007-04-15T07:44:00.000-04:00

After 36 hours at sea, we anchored in Bahia de Rincon near Salinas, an area known for its manatees or seas cows. The water is murky brown, and they scared Angie while surfacing next to the dingy, looking very much like water cows. She could see how boats kill many of them every year; you can’t see them surfacing.After an $8 “toll free” call to customs, we were told to call back later. After